[96.07] Electrical Properties of Martian Regolith Simulant Particles

Hubble Space Telescope observations of Mars from Earth as
well as spacecraft measurements from orbit around Mars and
from the Martian surface itself have shown that suspended
dust is a significant component of the Martian atmosphere.
Dust clouds have been observed extending over areas as large
as a few million square kilometers. Hubble has also
photographed planet-wide dust storms lasting for over one
month. These conditions, coupled with the absence of any
significant amounts of water in the Martian atmosphere, may
create electrostatic potentials that could be hazardous for
astronauts and equipment in future missions. The electrical
properties of the Martian soil have been determined directly
only by radio occultation from spacecraft in orbit about
Mars, by earth-based radar, and by microwave radiometry. For
the present work, experiments were designed to determine the
electrical properties of a Martian regolith simulant
prepared from Andesitic rocks by NASA Johnson Space Center
that has been shown to be a good spectral analog to the soil
in the bright regions of Mars. The volume electrical
conductivity of the simulant was measured to be intermediate
between that of a good conductor and that of a good
insulator. Thus, the simulant particles were expected to
exhibit fairly high surface electrostatic charging and
polarizability. Experiments to determine polarization and
electrostatic charging of the simulant particles under
several conditions were conducted.

The author(s) of this abstract have provided an email address
for comments about the abstract:
calle@sbc.edu